Brand Strategy Manager
The opportunity
Grant Thornton is expanding across more than 20 markets, with new firms continuing to join the group. This creates significant brand strategy work: developing propositions, shaping brand architecture, naming new offers and determining how acquired firms transition.
As Brand Strategy Manager, you will shape the group’s positioning and narrative and lead the development of propositions and messaging for priority campaigns, services and solutions. You will prepare brand architecture, naming and acquired-brand recommendations and develop the employee value proposition. The role reports to the Director, Brand Strategy.
What you will do
Brand story and positioning
Develop and evolve the group’s positioning, narrative, messaging architecture and tone of voice principles for use across markets
Connect audience, client need, value and proof in every framework, so each claim we make is clear, credible and consistent
Propositions and messaging
Build the proposition and messaging frameworks behind our campaigns, services and solutions, working with activation, creative, content and service line teams
Design and lead brand workshops with leadership teams, markets and service lines to shape propositions, test the thinking and build agreement on the direction
Turn approved strategy into clear creative briefs and keep the agreed direction intact through development
Brand architecture and naming
Shape the group’s brand architecture as we grow, developing options and naming recommendations for acquisitions, products, platforms, services and solutions
Prepare decision papers for senior leaders, setting out each option with its commercial, legal and market implications
Partner with Legal throughout, so trademark and regulatory advice shapes each recommendation from the start
M&A brand strategy
Assess the brand equity of firms joining the group and recommend how each brand transitions, from the end state through to the approach and timing
Develop the positioning and core messages for acquisition announcements, connecting each new firm clearly to the wider group
Employer brand
Define and evolve the employee value proposition with People and Culture, from the promise we make to talent through to the proof points and core messages behind it
Brief the teams responsible for employer brand activity, ensuring the core proposition and messaging are applied consistently
Insight and evidence
Define the questions our brand tracking and testing programs need to answer, from awareness and consideration through to message performance
Interpret the findings and recommend changes to positioning and messaging over time
What you will bring
Bachelor’s degree in marketing, communications, business or a related field, or equivalent experience
Around 7 years in brand strategy, gained in-house, in an agency or in a consultancy
Experience working across markets or in a complex organisation; professional services experience is useful but not required
A proven record building propositions and messaging architectures
Strong writing and editorial judgement, able to make complex services clear, credible and distinctive
Experience in brand architecture, naming and acquired-brand strategy
Employer brand experience and confidence working with senior People and Culture stakeholders
Skilled facilitation: able to design and lead workshops with senior stakeholders across markets and cultures
Research literacy: able to frame testing questions and turn findings into recommendations
The ability to build an evidence-based case, present a clear recommendation to senior leaders and gain their support
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We are Grant Thornton
Forget what you think you know about professional services. We go beyond what’s expected and help others do the same.
Grant Thornton is the brand name for Grant Thornton LLP and Grant Thornton Advisors LLC the U.S. member firms of Grant Thornton International Ltd, one of the world’s leading independent audit & assurance, tax and advisory firms. That means our network has more than 73,000 professionals in more than 146 countries who are ready to help public and private organizations of all sizes take on today’s challenges. But what sets us apart isn’t just what we do – it’s how we do it. Here, we believe in making business more personal and building trust into every result. We’re collaborators – obsessed with quality and ready for anything – who understand the value of strong relationships. It’s how we challenge the expectations of business and empower our people and clients to do it, too.
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